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Argo Tea history
Argo Tea company history timeline
Argo Tea began as a chain of tea cafes that was founded in the Lincoln Park community area in Chicago, Illinois, in June 2003.
Argo Tea was launched in 2003 by three partners: Arsen Avakian, Simon Simonian, and Daniel Lindwasser.
In March 2006, Argo expanded to the South Side of Chicago at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which is located in the Hyde Park community area, with a location that is described as a teaosk, a themed kiosk.
By 2007, the company decided to pursue consistency across its locations and began a centralized concentrate brewing process.
By February 2009, the company was still a Chicago metropolitan area business with all 13 of its locations.
As of October 2011 the chain had 26 locations and distribution in over 3,000 grocery stores. It had more than a dozen locations in the Chicago metropolitan area before expanding in 2010 to New York City, where it opened four locations that year and then expanded to St Louis and Boston.
Starbucks had a total 2010 revenue of $9 billion, while the entire tea industry was $7.7 billion, including $443 million by the top 6 United States tea chains.
When Starbucks bought Teavana for $620 million in 2012, some experts predicted trouble for Chicago-based Argo Tea.
Avakian declined to provide exact revenue figures for the privately held company, but said sales have “about tripled” from $20 million in 2013.
In 2020, Argo Tea changed its focus from cafés to sale of bottled tea drinks, and it was acquired by Golden Fleece Beverages.
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Argo Tea competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panera Bread | 1981 | $2.8B | 140,000 | 3,038 |
| Sonic Drive-In | 1953 | $423.6M | 5,000 | 2,126 |
| Subway | 1965 | $16.1B | 5,000 | 460 |
| Shake Shack | 2004 | $1.3B | 6,101 | 532 |
| Corner Bakery Cafe | 1991 | $200.0M | 3,000 | 8 |
| Wendy's | 1969 | $2.2B | 12,500 | 3,631 |
| Johnny Rockets | 1986 | $47.8M | 1,611 | 38 |
| Oberweis | 1927 | $1.3B | 3,000 | 80 |
| Handel's Homemade Ice Cream | 1945 | $30.0M | 30 | 1 |
| Saxbys Coffee | 2005 | $15.0M | 500 | 51 |
Argo Tea history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Argo Tea, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Argo Tea. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Argo Tea. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Argo Tea. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Argo Tea and its employees or that of Zippia.
Argo Tea may also be known as or be related to ARGO TEA INC, Argo Tea, Argo Tea Inc and Argo Tea, Inc.